Reconciliation

The woman said, "Why then have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, for the king has not brought back his banished son? Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. 2 Samuel 14:13-14

I meet on Sunday evenings with a group of men from my church. Currently we are going through 2 Samuel. We usually listen to Max McClean read about four chapters on audio Bible, and then we walk our way through the passage and talk about the story. The above quote is a beautiful little nugget, a rather blatant statement about God's ministry of reconciliation. In this story, a "wise" old woman is using this truth about God as a reason to compel King David to be reconciled to his son, Absalom. The Gospel leaps off the page!

One of the driving tensions throughout the Biblical story is how God will devise a way to reconcile his creatures who have become his enemies without compromising his absolute holiness. Thank God, he did devise a way, through the substitutionary sacrifice of His Son. Fully man, he qualifies to save humans. Fully God, He conquered sin and death. By some miraculous union, believers are joined to Him by faith. Hence, the Just Judge can be the Justifier of sinners without compromising His justice.

"...he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Romans 3:26

"Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." Romans 5:9-11